Are Summer Camps a real thing?

NecrosaroIII

NecrosaroIII

Banned
I've been wondering if Summer camps were really a thing ever since I was a child and watched Friday the 13th. I've never met anyone who has ever been to a summer camp, nor have I seen one. Is this a thing of the past?

If they are real - how much do they cost? How long are the kids away for?
 
Well I'm not american but according to every movie ever people who go there either get killed, abused or traumatized in some other way, so you'll probably struggle to find someone who came back unscarred and wants to talk about it.
 
Fbh said:
Well I'm not american but according to every movie ever people who go there either get killed, abused or traumatized in some other way, so you'll probably struggle to find someone who came back unscarred and wants to talk about it.
Click to expand...
Maybe this why they don't exist any more
 
I am Canadian and they are very real. Some of them are only a week or 2, but others go longer. Some have a theme like horseback riding. In fact, in my area, there has been a lot of concern over an exorcism being done at a Christian camp nearby. So, the stories stereotypes are sort of true.
 
giphy.gif
 
Yes. The camp I went to when I was a kid (I only went once but some friends went a bunch) is still open although under a different name.
 
Yeah, I was a camp counselor for a few years. I went to several different summer camps growing up as well. I don't know how much it cost, but they had weekend summer camp, a week, or two-week outings usually. The longest camp I did was 15 days.
 
I think maybe they aren't as common today as in the past but I used to go to a summer camp as a kid. Talking early-mid nineties. The one I went to lasted about two weeks I think. It was so much fun. I'm sure if they are still a thing they be way more expensive than when I went.
 
Definitely was real in America. It was big up until 15-20 years ago. Lots of them have closed. Used to work at cape cod sea camps; they were open for almost 100 years. Mismanagement, rising costs, finding help, and then finally covid did them in.

Hugh school and college age kids were usually the counselors. Adults would do maintenance (like me) or be instructors.

Archery was huge in the 90s. Maybe a bb gun range, art and crafts, water sports/activities if by water,camping. Over night camps or day camps. I went to day camps until maybe 3rd grade and I did over night camps for a year or 2. By middle school most kids aren't going anymore.

Could be the whole summer or half. It got really expensive to send kids to overnight camp where I used to live. Maybe $15,000 for the summer. That's not typical though and it was affordable enough for my single mom to send me for several years in the 80s/90s.
 
I went to summer "camp" in NYC as a kid, except it wasn't really a camp in the traditional sense. It was basically just a school day at some College, except instead of learning all we did was exercise or play games in the gym or computer lab. I played so much Worms 2 and StarCraft that summer lol
 
Last edited:
Absolutely, how are they NOT a thing where you live?

One I went to the most was an all-boys camp on one side of the lake, all-girls on the other side.

That water be chilly when you are swimming back in the middle of the night :P
 
I went to summer camps in the 80s for weeks at a time. They were great. The worst thing that happened was I got lice one time.

My niece who is 14 still goes to summer camp up north for 6 weeks in the summer.
 
jason10mm said:
Absolutely, how are they NOT a thing where you live?

One I went to the most was an all-boys camp on one side of the lake, all-girls on the other side.

That water be chilly when you are swimming back in the middle of the night :p
Click to expand...
I dunno. I lived in a rural community in Oregon, and then in the inner city in Los Angeles. Just wasn't a thing around here. A lot of the positive responses seem to be from East coasters. Maybe they're bigger now
 
My mom went to college and they had a boys and girls club at the college so parents could drop off their kids while they went to class and studied. They had a Summer camp program where they would drive you out to the forest somewhere in California for a week and it was fun as hell. I went twice
 
Yeah. I got sent to boy scout summer camp once. It was alright. We did a lot of hiking and sports. Being out in the country, sleeping in a tent and seeing actual wildlife was pretty cool.
 
Yep, when I lived in New York there was a general camp/activity camp and a soccer camp; I'd go to both each summer back-to-back.

In England, Australia and Singapore there wasn't any such thing when I was a kid.
 
Fbh said:
Well I'm not american but according to every movie ever people who go there either get killed, abused or traumatized in some other way, so you'll probably struggle to find someone who came back unscarred and wants to talk about it.
Click to expand...

Movie logic also applied to high schools. Camp is a common adolescent setting that happens to have enough freedom to place stories.
 
There is one about 10 minutes from my house. They offer boat lessons and all kinds of different sports, along with various schedules to suit the needs of parents
 
I went to a Presbyterian summer camp for a few summers as a kid in the late 80s and early 90s. It was pretty great actually, and formative for my life at the time. Just a bunch of kids, and teens acting as "counselors" or whatever. Kissed a girl for the first time when I was there. Swimming, hiking, campfires. Staying in a cabin with 4-5 other kids who you quickly became friends with. Parents would send care packs with snacks and shit. It was in the forrest in Occidental California.
 
I'm from the UK and went to Scout camp each summer for a week. It was absolute carnage. Non stop bullying, fires and porn mags. I loved it. Lord of the Flies is great so long as you're not Piggy.
 
Lunarorbit said:
.

Could be the whole summer or half. It got really expensive to send kids to overnight camp where I used to live. Maybe $15,000 for the summer. That's not typical though and it was affordable enough for my single mom to send me for several years in the 80s/90s.
Click to expand...

😐😐😐😐

What???!!! 15,000$??!!!!

Why so expensive...Includes a stay at the Paris Hilton Hotel?? Or What??

Or they're going to introduce me to Britney Spears.???

Why 15,000$?
 
Heimdall_Xtreme said:
😐😐😐😐

What???!!! 15,000$??!!!!

Why so expensive...Includes a stay at the Paris Hilton Hotel?? Or What??

Or they're going to introduce me to Britney Spears.???

Why 15,000$?
Click to expand...
Yeah it's nuts. So between 15-20 for the whole summer overnight camp. Just about 2 months. My first year I started in September and when I got my last check that year I thought there was a mistake. They used to give out 20% bonuses of your yearly wages at Christmas. I was in maintenance so it was a great bonus.

Edit: found an application from 2012 and it was $10,000 for 6 weeks. The last year in 2019 was closer to $15,000 to 20,000 after taxes, incidentals, and the price raises for 7 years later.
 
Last edited:
Where I grew up, there were only two. One was the Girl Scout's camp, located in a pocket of wilderness literally right down the street from the suburbs. The other was located next to a local national park, and was basically just for rich kids. It has extremely nice cabins and facilities, the grounds are meticulously cared for, and it costs way more than most middle class families would be willing to cough up just to get little Jimmy out of the picture for a month so mom and dad could drink and bone like they were back in college.

Me and my friends used to sneak onto the grounds of the camp in the off season to party. It beat trying to hide from the cops at the local park or wherever.
 
My daughter went a few summers in a row. It was for CODAs (children of deaf adults)... She used to love it there. Then she aged out.
 
Lunarorbit said:
Yeah it's nuts. So between 15-20 for the whole summer overnight camp. Just about 2 months. My first year I started in September and when I got my last check that year I thought there was a mistake. They used to give out 20% bonuses of your yearly wages at Christmas. I was in maintenance so it was a great bonus.

Edit: found an application from 2012 and it was $10,000 for 6 weeks. The last year in 2019 was closer to $15,000 to 20,000 after taxes, incidentals, and the price raises for 7 years later.
Click to expand...
Ah ok.

So it's 15,000 but in total for the whole group? I imagine that people split the payment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Are we that far off from a Joker character in real life?
33
576
The Pleasure replied
Summer '25 anime discussion
Social  2
97
3K
Durien replied
About to fly to Orlando from Maine through a summer storm advisory.....
28
513
poodaddy replied
David Fincher’s ‘THE ADVENTURES OF CLIFF BOOTH’ will be released in Summer 2026
5
108
SlimySnake replied
It's the 1st day of Summer!
2
68
2K
12Goblins replied
Top Bottom